Recalculation of earnings-related daily allowance and “resetting” of days

The maximum period for the payment of earnings-related daily allowance is usually 400 days. The days of earnings-related daily allowance payment are reset and the payment period restarts after you have worked at least 26 weeks and the working time for each week has been at least 18 hours. The working weeks must be accumulated within a period of 28 months.  The rate of earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated if the new 26-week working condition is met within a year of the previous time that the rate of your earnings-related daily allowance was calculated and payment of the allowance started. 

Example: You were laid off for the period 18 to 31 December 2023. The waiting period was from 18 to 22 December 2023 and earnings-related daily allowance was paid for the period 27 to 29 December 2023. Your next lay-off period was from 1 to 18 August 2024. At this time, at least 26 working weeks have been accumulated and the working condition has been met again. Your new daily allowance payment period starts within a year from the start of the previous daily allowance payment period, which means that the rate of earnings-related daily allowance will not be recalculated, or a waiting period applied. Earnings-related daily allowance is paid at the same rate as before for the period 1 to 18 August 2024, with the exception of public holidays. The days of earnings-related daily allowance payment are reset, and the maximum period of daily allowance will start from the beginning.  

Days of earnings-related daily allowance payment are always reset after meeting the 26-week working condition and the maximum period starts over, even if the maximum period has not been reached.

Days of daily allowance payment can be reset with occasional work as long as the work meets the working condition. If you are in continuous part-time employment at least 18 hours per week and receive adjusted daily allowance from the unemployment fund, the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is recalculated approximately once per year, even if the working condition is met twice during the year.

Example: You become unemployed on 1 April 2023. The unemployment fund pays you full earnings-related daily allowance until 31 August 2023. You start part-time employment on 1 September 2023 and work 25 hours per week. You transfer to adjusted daily allowance. You meet the 26-week working condition on 1 March 2024. At this time, the days remaining of maximum payment period are reset and your daily allowance period starts from the beginning. However, the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated because the 26-week working condition was met within a year from the start of earnings-related daily allowance payment.  

Please note that the working condition is 12 calendar months from 2 September 2024. 

The 80-percent rule protects the rate of daily allowance

A rule of protection is applied to the recalculation of earnings-related daily allowance if you have previously received the allowance. This means that the full rate of your new earnings-related daily allowance is at least 80 percent of your previous full earnings-related daily allowance. The protection can be applied if you meet the 26-week working condition before reaching the maximum period of daily allowance. The protection does not apply if you reach the maximum period of daily allowance before you meet the working condition.

The protection also does not apply if the payment of daily allowance has never started. For example, if you receive severance pay corresponding to 10 months’ salary when your employment is terminated, unemployment allowance is not paid for the period affected by the severance pay (approximately 10 months). If you become employed during the severance pay deferral period or immediately after and your employment lasts at least 26 weeks you meet the working condition again. In such case, the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is calculated from the work from which you have met the new 26-week working condtition and the 80 percent protection does not apply to the rate of daily allowance.         

The comparison used for the protection is always carried out with the earnings-related daily allowance of a fully unemployed person without a child increase.
The protection only applies to full earnings-related daily allowance. If you receive adjusted daily allowance, the rate of your earnings-related daily allowance may be reduced by more than 20 percent, because other rules also apply to calculating adjusted daily allowance.

Employment obligation

If you have been employed on the basis of the employment obligation, your earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated unless the pay on which the allowance is based is higher than previously. You are within the scope of the employment obligation if you are at least 57 years of age and reach the maximum period of daily allowance.  

Protection of the rate of earnings-related daily allowance for people at least 58 years of age

If you are at least 58 years old and you meet the 26-week working condition again, your earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated unless the new pay on which your earnings-related daily allowance is based is higher than your previous pay. However, this comparison of benefits is made only in the event that the earnings-related daily allowance is to be recalculated. This means that if the employment condition is met within one year of the last time the earnings-related daily allowance level has been calculated an

Additional days are not reset, and the rate of daily allowance is not reduced

Your maximum earnings-related daily allowance period will not be reset if you are already using additional days (unemployment path to retirement). This means that the maximum payment period is not reset, and the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is not recalculated, even if you perform work that meets the working condition for 26 weeks after the payment of additional days has started. 

Additional days mean that you have exceeded the maximum payment period for earnings-related daily allowance (400 or 500 days in practice) and transferred to additional days. If the payment of additional days has started and you meet the 26-week working condition your maximum payment period will no longer be reset. The rate of earnings-related daily allowance will also not be recalculated, even if the rate would increase compared to your previous rate. The rate of earnings-related daily allowance is “locked” when you receive payment for your first additional day.